Black Americans Especially at Risk for Coronavirus, Early Data Suggests

Are black Americans more at risk for the virus? Early hospital data suggests a disproportionately high rate of infection.

In a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a study of 1500 patients hospitalized in 14 states showed an alarming trend—Black Americans were over-represented in coronavirus infections.

Though African Americans constitute 13 percent of the U.S. population, 33 percent of those hospitalized patients were black. To compare, white people make up 76 percent of the U.S. population but only accounted for 45 percent of the hospitalizations.

In Illinois, African Americans account for 15 percent of the state population, but make up 43 percent of the state's COVID-19 fatalities and 28 percent of confirmed infections. In Michigan, African Americans are 14 percent of the population but represent 40 percent of deaths and a third of confirmed cases. About 70 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Lousiana have been black people, though the group is only a third of the state’s population.

But many hospitals aren't reporting any data on race when counting up coronavirus data—sometimes more than 40 percent of cases in a region won't have racial information.

How do health officials respond to this data?

While everyone is susceptible to COVID-19, black Americans are at higher risk, said Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on CBS This Morning.

"We have early evidence that we need to pay particular attention to race and ethnicity," said Dr. Patrice Harris, Adams and American Medical Association President, on Tuesday.

“This is a call-to-action moment for all of us,” said Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago and the city's first black woman mayor. “Those numbers take your breath away, they really do.”

About a third of Chicago is black, but 72 percent of virus-related deaths in Chicago come from that demographic.

In the White House's coronavirus briefing Tuesday, President Donald Trump acknowledged the issue: "We're actively engaging on the problem of increased impact—this is a real problem and it's showing up very strongly in our data ... on the African American community," Trump said. "And we're doing everything in our power to address this challenge. It's a tremendous challenge. It's terrible."

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health responded to the White House briefing, saying African Americans do not seem more likely to be infected by coronavirus. Instead, he suggested the racial disparity might be due to "underlying medical conditions, [including] diabetes, hypertension, obesity, [and] asthma" that would exacerbate the disease. He went on to say, "We really do need to address" the health disparities that exist in the US.

Writers for the New York Times reported:

The statistics are preliminary and much remains unknown because most cities and states are not reporting race as they provide numbers of confirmed cases and fatalities. Initial indications from a number of places, though, are alarming enough that policymakers say they must act immediately to stem potential devastation in black communities.

What's your response to this information? What sort of position or policy could address this issue?

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